The Blooming Lotus
by JessenoSabaku
Summary: To become secure in knowing what his way of life was—that was what Naruto wanted. AU. Lee/Naru friendship story. Senpai/kouhai theme. Thanks to Naru894 for requesting this! Rated K. Light cussing; if it is offensive to you, please do not read.


**Disclaimer: I own none of Naruto. The rights to the series belong to their respectful owners. But please support the franchise by buying the manga and DVDs. Please also note that NO PROFIT is being made off this or any of my other stories. It is done simply for fun and writing critique. All that having been said please sit back, relax, and enjoy what I have to offer.**

INTRODUCTION: **Thanks to naru894 for requesting this story!** I had some trouble coming up with a concept, but I think I have a good idea now. **Please request stories at will!** I really appreciate it when I get a request because it gives me the motivation to put my brain to work. So, moving on to the description of this story, this is supposed to be a plot that outlines the friendship between Naruto and Lee. Honestly I think that Naruto considers Lee a senpai in certain ways. Sure, Naruto is probably smarter, but besides that and some other things he and Lee are very similar in the sense that they both realize the value of hard work. Though they work hard for different reasons, I feel that as they watch each other and occasionally spar with each other they are reminded of themselves and what they must do to earn the happy endings they want. And after laying that out on the table you should also note that I believe Lee looks up to Naruto just as much as Naruto looks up to him, if not more.

But in this story, Lee is specifically a senpai. Don't ask me why, I just thought it fit for some reason (other than the fact that he's about a year older than Naruto). Take from it what you will and favorite/review as your heart compels you to. And don't forget to request!

**(XXX)**

Naruto's footsteps creaked up the wooden steps and into the dojo. Named "The Blooming Lotus," it was the only one in the small town he had grown up in. Most of the population preferred to stay indoors and read or play games, so it was rare for gyms or clubs hosting physical activities to thrive. The owner of the dojo, Maito Gai, chased away most of the newcomers as well because of his over-enthusiasm (a huge understatement), so needless to say the dojo was a very small establishment with very few members. Despite this, the fee for joining was surprisingly light, as well as the price for lessons.

Usually Naruto was greeted by Gai's booming, energetic voice, which welcomed him into the small wooden structure, but today he was, to Naruto's surprise, gone. He looked around in confusion. He knew the dojo had to be open because the front door was unlocked and the lights were on. He heard the sound of shuffling feet behind him and spun around, facing the noise with a startled expression.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, it's you," said a familiar voice. The person it belonged to came into focus and Naruto let the tension seep out of his shoulders at the recognition of who it was. It was Lee, Gai's star pupil and the co-founder of the dojo. Both he and Gai shared several similar traits—a sleek, black bowl-cut hairdo, big bushy eyebrows, a young heart, and an indomitable spirit.

"Hey, bushy-brows," Naruto called out in greeting as they both walked towards each other. Lee was carrying a bucket in one hand and a mop in the other. "Been cleaning?"

"I have," Lee responded, looking away long enough to set the bucket down in a corner, leaning the mop handle against the wall to keep the bucket from being tipped over. Then he turned to face Naruto again. "Not many people have come by today, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to clean the place up a bit."

"Speaking of people who haven't come around today, where's Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked. He followed Lee to the center of the room where they both sat down on the wooden floor across from each other.

"Well, as you very well know," Lee began, "the dojo is having a lot of financial trouble. Gai-sensei has left me in charge for a few days so he can try and straighten things out."

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "How bad is it?" He dared to ask, but he already had a pretty good idea.

Lee shrugged, his eyes tired. "I do not know. But judging from Gai-sensei's current behavior, I would say we have to be in pretty deep trouble."

"Why doesn't he talk to you about that kind of stuff? You're the co-founder, right?"

"Sure, I helped come up with the idea, but that does not mean I am good at handling or even understanding the financial aspect of running a dojo. That has always been left in Gai-sensei's hands, and rightly so."

"I guess that makes sense …" Naruto agreed, gaze sweeping over the dojo in one sad, longing look. "Man, I really hope this place doesn't go under."

Lee sensed the growing uneasiness in Naruto and decided that there should be no more pessimism and down-trodden feelings. "Well, as long as we have that hope, we will strive so that the worst does not occur," he said, giving a confident nod, eyes filled with faith that things would turn out alright.

When Lee gained that determined posture Naruto couldn't help but believe the same. It was amazing how one person's sureness could make a person feel so safe in the same certainty. "Yeah. If we're goin' down, we'll go down swingin'!" Naruto said with a carefree smile.

"Now you have it!" Lee said, flashing one of his signature "nice guy" smiles (passed down to him by Gai), clenching his fist with the enthusiasm he had been missing when he first sat down to talk with Naruto.

The two of them bumped fists and as Naruto's knuckles met with the bandages on Lee's, he thought of the amazing willpower that had driven his senpai's arms to work, to fight, until they were bruised and bleeding. He wanted to be like that—he wanted to feel the same thing that drove those fists towards a purpose that no one else could touch, shake, or destroy.

To become secure in knowing what his way of life was—that was what Naruto wanted. That was why the dingy little dojo was the only place in town that he could run away to.

**(XXX)**

School, on the other hand, was hell. Life in general was hell. And the summers in Konoha were just as hot.

He hated everyone that lived there, and he hated everyone that didn't. The people in town for being stuck up bastards who only helped themselves and the people who were foreign for refusing to move there so that the citizens and their culture could slowly begin the transition towards something a little more accepting. But after all, no one wants to live in a tiny town crammed together with a bunch of pole-up-the-ass freaks who make promises with their fingers crossed behind their backs.

And in return for Naruto's hate, everyone hated him.

Right after Naruto was born, both his mother and father died, leaving him to be adopted by a pair of kind foster parents who accidentally traumatized him when he was twelve years old by telling him he wasn't their biological son, and disturbed him even further by telling them his real parents were dead. Since then, he'd become very distant from them and very bitter, for reasons even he didn't quite know. Small-town gossips had theorized about what had happened, and spread a rumor that his mother's death had resulted from complications while she was giving birth to him, which gave his schoolmates the idea to start calling him a "mother killer." Naruto had already been disliked before people started talking behind his back, and once they submerged themselves in a fantasy world where they were able to give themselves reasons to shun him, they began walking hand in hand down the road of hate, on Naruto's heels all of the way. And on that united front, townspeople of all ages shot him dirty looks and laughed as they pointed their fingers.

"Go to hell, Uzumaki, back to where you came from."

"Yeah, and when you get there you can tell your mommy on us."

In school his grades had started to fall, and he let them descend into an abyss of nothingness, preferring to stare out the window or doodle in his notebooks during class time unless he had no choice but to pretend like he actually gave a damn. The only thing on his mind during the boring lectures and mind-numbing exercises was how long he had until he could go home, how many fights he would have with the other boys, and how much ridicule he would have to face before he could exit the double doors of the entrance and thereafter dream of a time when he would never have to go back there again. Well, except for today, which he spent thinking about the Blooming Lotus. He had always worried about it, but never as much in previous times as he worried now. The dojo's existence was hanging in the balance, and all that Naruto and Lee could say to inspire some kind of hope was "We'll give it our best." Naruto had become a pessimist after living for fifteen years in a world where his best was never enough.

One time a couple of weeks after he started taking lessons with Gai, he met Lee during a break and was asked why he decided to join. Naruto answered that it was to have something else going on other than schoolwork. He then lamented to Lee about how horrible and boring it was to have to sit through day after day of tedious information being stuffed into his head that he would just forget in an afternoon. Then when he told Lee he was considering dropping out, the older boy chastised him for even thinking about quitting school, telling him in very impassioned tones that knowledge was just as powerful as anything that the fists could produce, explaining how a good education helped in all areas of life. Naruto still didn't understand why it was important, but after seeing Lee defend it so strongly, he decided that the least he could do is tough it out until the end of the year and see if he somehow managed to get a passing grade. That conversation was the only reason why Naruto still bothered with school.

The experiences he'd had with Lee and Gai had made other impacts on his life: Naruto's respect for his foster parents had begun to be salvaged after Gai told him how commendable it was that two people who could just as easily make a child for themselves would provide a loving family for someone else's; he gained a little bit of pity for those who traded gossip after Lee commented on how awful it must be to have so little going on in your own life that you must make twisted talk about someone else's; and he was able to chuckle at the dark humor Lee provided when he noted bitterly that at least people could be brought together by Naruto's misery. To think of what it might be like if the institution that gave his life a little bit of enlightenment disappeared was almost more than the whiskered boy could bear.

_What the hell am I gonna do?_ Naruto asked himself, angry that he didn't have an answer.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, and Naruto sighed heavily as he stood, paying no attention to the teacher's last-minute reminders of what paper was due tomorrow and what test to study for on Wednesday. He figured he should drop by the dojo and see if anything had changed.

He left the classroom and walked down the hall, his backpack slung over his shoulder, and a brooding expression on his face. He told himself to cheer up, that it wasn't so bad. Surely Gai could pull them out of any rut if he tried hard enough. And nobody had tried to pick a fight with him so far, so it hadn't been a totally awful day. That had to mean his fortune was changing, right?

He forced himself to start whistling a happy tune, but his face remained stony. He couldn't will himself to smile, not while he was still in the depths of the snake pit. As he walked out the front door and down the block, ignoring all as he moved, being ignored just the same, he hefted his backpack up a little farther onto his shoulder and shoved his hand in his pocket, watching the leaves of the trees overhead sway, feeling that their branches gestured towards some ultimate unknown awaiting him somewhere ahead.

**(XXX)**

It turned out that Naruto didn't get to visit the dojo that day. He got a call from his mother asking him to come home for a little bit to help her with some of the cooking. What was supposed to last for only a few minutes turned into a cleaning excursion that lasted several days after his mother tripped over the garbage can in the kitchen as she moved to serve dinner to her husband and spilled the food all over the carpet and the couch. She and Naruto spent a few afternoons and evenings trying with all their might and cleaning product to get the stains out of the couch and carpet until eventually they found Pride stain-remover in a little stick for the couch and Coolite liquid carpet-cleaner (both of which they worshipped on bended knee).

As the end of this struggle, about half a week later than what Naruto had originally intended, he finally had the time to make his way over to the Blooming Lotus. He took his bike, pedaling as fast he could on his way, chaining it to a nearby post when he finally arrived. He jogged up the front steps and into the main room, where he saw Lee, unexpectedly out of his training garments. He heard Naruto come in and turned around, giving him a bright smile.

"Oh, Naruto-kun. Hello there," he said.

"Hey, bushy-brows!" Naruto said as he walked up to him, relaxing at the cheery look he'd received. "You just get here? I usually don't see you in normal clothes."

"That is …" Lee started to say. His face fell a little. "Naruto, have you not heard the news?"

Naruto's face froze before turning white. "What news?"

"I thought Gai-sensei would've already notified you," Lee began, continuing quickly before Naruto could ask again what news it was that he hadn't yet heard. "The dojo is going out of business."

"No way!" Naruto cried in exasperation. "This has to be some sort of joke!"

"My deepest condolences. I also vainly hope that Gai-sensei is somehow pulling my leg, but unless that somehow turns out to be true, for the time being we have been told to vacate the premises within the next couple of days," Lee said, his face dark and his usually-lively eyes drearier than Naruto had ever seen them.

A sick feeling welled up in his stomach and he choked on a knot that had tied itself in his throat so tightly that tears couldn't even make their way to his eyes. "You've been told to leave? By who? Do they want something with the building?"

"Gai-sensei has been living off next to nothing for a long time, but lately he has not even that much. So he had no choice but to sell this building to someone else who wanted to use it," Lee answered, and as a bitter smile curled about his face, his eyes became a window to his soul, his stare made sharp by the pain in his heart. "The company that bought the space here plans to bulldoze all remnants of our facility and turn it into a fast-food restaurant."

That added insult to injury. When you pictured the Blooming Lotus, you thought of the strong young men and women who came there to further themselves; the beginners on their way to learning passion and honor through rigorous training that was sure to come. But after the new owners got through with it, those students would be replaced by fat, lazy slobs shoveling hamburger after hamburger down their throat, getting fatter as they ate, never the wiser as to what they could've been doing in that very same location only a few months earlier. Naruto had never seen a fast-food restaurant around where he lived, and he had always hoped never to see one. He wondered why it had to be that the first in what would inevitably be a long line of greasy abominations established in the community had to take the place of the dojo.

"I am just as frustrated as you are," Lee said, having seen all of these thoughts flash across Naruto's face. He patted him on the shoulder as he walked past him. "But this is one situation where there really is nothing we can do."

"Sure there's something you can do," Naruto argued. "There's always a way."

As if to dismiss Naruto's words with an authority he could not challenge, Lee spoke in a tone unaffected by Naruto's interjection, saying, "Come and help me pack up the equipment. If it is not nailed down, Gai-sensei will probably want it."

Naruto could only follow him silently, his senses dulled, his heart tender from being denied the hope that had kept it going throughout the whole week. The two of them put away the training equipment in the boxes and cases they had come in, not a word passing between them. They cleaned the floors and scrubbed the walls and windows then pulled out all the extra training garments that had been prepared for beginners who had not yet bought their own and began to fold them up and put them into a small box. They sat across from each other on the floor of the main room of the dojo, the box occupying the space between them, receiving the folded clothes whenever one of the two boys finished folding a set. Naruto felt as though the box had dividing wall between them, symbolizing the firm reality that he would never be able to return. He knew this time spent preparing for the dojo's closing would be the time in which he must say his last goodbye to his senpai. And he didn't think he had it in him to call up Gai and say the same.

"I don't want it to end," Naruto said suddenly in frustration, throwing down the clothes he had been folding up until that point.

Lee didn't admonish him. He calmly set aside his own work so that he could give his kouhai his undivided attention. He too seemed to know that this would be the final meeting. "None of us do."

"But you don't understand, Lee!" Naruto said, trembling with the aftershock of the instant earthquake of emotion that had just shaken his soul. "This place is my sanctuary! It's the only reason that I've come this far! Without it, I won't have anywhere else to turn!"

"How about you turn and face forward?" Lee said calmly.

Naruto was angry, because he knew exactly what Lee was going to say before he said it. "I can't. It's too hard for me to deal with everything on my own. I'm not like you."

"The trials of life can only be overcome by determination," Lee reminded him. "Are you really so easily frightened by life's challenges? I had never thought you to be the type."

"You wouldn't understand." Naruto knew that Lee would never be able to relate. He'd never be able to know what it was like to be jeered at in the halls, whispered about behind his back, called wicked names like "mother-killer" and "useless." Every nerve in Naruto's body screamed at him, sick of being on end all day and night, sick of fighting tooth and nail against bullies and the bitter gossip that adults passed onto their children to use in their judgment of him.

"Perhaps you are right," Lee agreed. He shrugged and closed his eyes, as if reminiscing of a time from long ago. Then out of nowhere he quietly asked, "Naruto, do you know why the dojo was created?"

"Not really," Naruto admitted shamefacedly after a moment. He'd always just assumed that it was because practicing judo was one of their favorite hobbies.

"The dojo was created to teach people to take control of their willpower," Lee began, opening his eyes, pausing before he continued, trying to gather his thoughts together. "The training exercises were made to be incredibly difficult in order to force you to work hard, and when you mastered them, to be looked back upon as testament that no challenge is too great in the face of the human spirit. You, Naruto, have not even thought to introduce this principle into your life outside of the dojo."

Naruto could not reply to that, knowing it to be the truth. He'd never considered integrating the lessons learned in the dojo with his other life experiences.

Lee kept on speaking after he was satisfied that his words had fully sunk in. "In the end, the blame for that will not fall upon my head or Gai-sensei's. The only one at fault will be you. We gave you the blade that will help you cut a path through the weeds that have grown around your feet, but you tossed it aside and instead kicked at the ground, ensnaring your legs even further. So where among the grass have you lost your passion? Will you bring it to life, or have you shut it away in your heart to die?"

"I …" Naruto tried to speak, but his throat was dry and devoid of all coherent speech. He licked his lips and lapsed back into thought, now embarrassed for having said over and over how important the dojo was to him without understanding the real reason for which it was supposed to be important.

Lee looked down, his expression regretful. He didn't want to be too hard on Naruto, but he had to say what he had said—it was a responsibility he couldn't shirk. He clutched the legs of his pants tightly, trying to deliver some kind of mercy while making his final points. "I feel old and weak now, even though I know I am still young and strong. Tragedy does that to a man. I know you feel the same. I have felt lost like this a time or two before, but I managed to find my way back, and since I have done it in the past, I can probably do it again. Though I do wonder: can I afford to lose myself this time?"

Naruto willed his voice to return, asking, "What do you mean?"

"Naruto, to you this dojo was a peaceful place to escape to. But to me, this dojo was my home—my _life_. For a long time, I have lived just to get up in the morning and teach the life lessons I had learned the same way as was being taught alongside my mentor and friend." Lee looked up at Naruto, his eyes empty but his features pained. "I did not think for even a moment that if my world came crashing down around me that I would have to hold it up with my own strength. But now that is what I must do."

Naruto understood the hidden meaning in these passive-aggressive words. He was being told that he was depended upon to deal with his own problems and tackle them head-on instead of relying on something or someone else to take his pain away. The things Lee had accomplished in the dojo were what shaped his life, and because of this, he had fought hard for his right to continue to live in the manner he'd been molded to fit. Even though he lost the battle, he had faced it and never once looked back for another direction in which to run, because he was fighting for his life and his goals, and he would either see them through to the end or die trying.

"Naruto," Lee said, every fiber of his being beseeching Naruto to comprehend the message he was trying to get across. "Do you understand?"

Naruto knew that he and Lee would never face each other again. They'd both known it since Naruto had received the paralyzing news that the Blooming Lotus was no more. His senpai's words were like that of a dying man, desperate because they would never be spoken again. So, even though he wanted to argue, he had no choice but to let Lee tie up his loose ends with no contest. "I understand."

"Good," Lee said. He sat upright, straighter than ever, and closed his eyes, as if guarding himself from a sight he couldn't bear to see. "Then you would do well to leave this place."

Naruto didn't say another word as he rose and walked out the door. He unchained his bike from the pole outside, and as he pulled himself up onto the seat he whispered a silent "I'll think about it" in response to the man he'd left behind and his pleas that Naruto should stand his ground in life instead of running away. Then he rode off, pedaling as hard as he could, opening his eyes wide against the wind so that it would bring the tears that had been afraid to come out in front of the senpai he had laughed with and respected so much.

**(XXX)**

Whispers floated over Naruto's head and around his well-toned shape as he walked down the hall, words that escaped him even though he could hear them perfectly well.

"He's changed," some people said. "He's not afraid anymore."

"He doesn't even look angry anymore," one girl had replied. "He used to seem so spiteful."

"I heard he's getting into a lot of fights recently." "I heard him mouth off to the leader of the gang that hangs around the school grounds." "You did not!" "Did too!" "No way!" "He has some guts, and he's gonna get 'em ripped out of him!"

These were the words that sparked interest in the teenage gossips and the hateful classmates Naruto had once been just as angry at. But now he could no longer see through eyes tinted red with the shame of being an outcast. He would be unable to do so even if he had wanted to with all his heart and soul.

A group of older boys, their hearts being those of fighters and trouble-makers, eyed him as he stopped at his locker to pull out his books and stuff them into his backpack. They elbowed each other and laughed, thinking that they were going to put this new Naruto back in his place. They sauntered over to him as he swung the locker door shut. Naruto knew that they wanted to push him around, and he wanted just as badly to do the same to them.

"Hey, Uzumaki, looks like lately you've been getting a swelled head," one of the boys sneered. "You ought to take my advice and—"

Before his sentence was even halfway over, Naruto's fist had connected with his jaw, sending him to the ground in one fell swoop. "Stop flappin' your yap. I got a class to get to," he said, egging him on, trying to get him to start a fight so he could teach him a lesson.

"Why you …!" the boy on the ground growled. As he jumped up to tackle Naruto, his friends all joined in without hesitation.

_That's right, bring it on!_ Naruto thought. _I'll take on every last one of you and make you acknowledge all of my efforts!_

He dodged his immediate attacker and punched him hard in the gut, watching him double over in pain. Then Naruto pushed him into his approaching comrades, forcing them to stop and try to catch him.

"You listen and listen well!" Naruto declared confidently in the face of their dagger-like eyes. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and …!"

_Someday … I am gonna be …!_

**(XXX)**

**A/N: My name is Jesse. I live in Saitama. I stayed up past my bedtime tonight to finish this one-shot. What a grave sin! I must bite my tongue and die. But before I do that, let me give you some of my notes. This was very awkward for me to write because for some reason, before the process of revision takes place, my writing always seems very melodramatic and I feel compelled to hit my head against the wall after rereading some of the ridiculous things I've had manga characters say because I couldn't get my head in the right place while I was writing the first draft. I think this one was alright, though, especially after I spaced out some of the preset dialogue that I had created before I even started writing. And by the way, the last line was a reference to Naruto's "I'm gonna be Hokage!" line in the original story, in case you didn't know. Naru894, I hope you like this, because I worked really hard on it. And I really do apologize for the delay.**

**(P.S., I don't live in Saitama and I'm not going to bite my tongue and die. Unless I start reading my first drafts of "Raiding His Fridge" again.)**


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